Pet Insurance Cost Cutting System/MoneySavingExpert.com Discussion

lowis

ashbart wrote: »

Still slightly confused by the 'life' covers, etc, etc however - we have decided to go for the petplan cover as our vets use them and they will claim direct, if they ever need to (and there have been good reviews from MSers!)

We are in our 4 free weeks at the moment with petplan and they've sent a letter with different types of cover. All are 'Covered for life' plans but they have a Budget, Standard, and Supreme Plan.

The main elements between the three are as follows:
The budget plan is vet fees up to £4k per year, Standard £6k, Supreme £12k.
Third party liability: Budget £1million, Standard £2million, Supreme £3million.
Budget does not cover death from illness, death from injury, theft or straying, or holiday cancellation.

WHICH ONE?!? Will the budget plan be enough? I am so confused.....! We have a rhodesian ridgeback puppy who is now 13 weeks, no pre-existing, if that helps at all......

Thanks!

as i recall the cheapest budget policy isn't a for life policy - and petplan call it the Value Policy. the only drawback with Petplan is that once your pet reaches 'old age' you become liable for the first 20% of all claims. you might want to check if your vet would claim directly with AXA, their policy is very good and they are one of he very few insurer's who do not have a % excess for older pets/

secretshopper75

Just hoping someone can advise me...

We have two ten yr old cats, female who is healthy and male who has a condition of cystitis (last episode has just cost £300 in vet bills) and we were thinking about insuring them or is it too late...Just had a look at the policies I saw don't cover existing complaints. Does anyone know if any policies will cover existing complaints?

Bromley86

our vets use them and they will claim direct

The other thing to consider is how important direct payment is to you. We've made a lot of claims with Halifax and they were all paid within 2-3 weeks. So as long as you have access to a credit card, normal vet claims and small ops shouldn't be a problem.

Specialist vets, and vets performing expensive surgery, seem to be pretty understanding. Certainly our specialist didn't mind direct payment for the hip ops. Mind you, at that price, I'm not surprised .


kljross75

Does anyone know if any policies will cover existing complaints?

Sorry, but no one covers preexisting illnesses. Insurance is a business, and taking on that risk is like playing Russian roulette with 5 chambers loaded .

I haven't looked recently to see who takes older pets. I know that Halifax will. And Animal Friends.

It's not likely to be cheap, and many of the excesses will include a percentage (20%-35%) of the claim. Still, worth looking into. Get a bunch of quick test quotes and see whether it's worth it.

lowis

not many insurance companies do older pets, i had real trouble finding one that would cover my cat when I adopted him when he was 14 years old. the ones who offered quotes for a proper 'for life' policy were AXA, Halifax, M&S, GreenBee, HSBC and Animal Friends.

AXA and M&S and Greenbee were the only affordable policies of those that quoted - Halifax and HSBC quoted me something like £80 a month, for a CAT! I chose Axa because they are their own underwriter and because the benefits were slightly better.

Fizzipop

Has anyone else had experience of Virgin pet insurance? I have had two cats insured with them since birth on the top level of cover, the older of the two is now nearly 9. I havent made any claims for her. I got the insurance renewal for next month and it had gone up over 100%! I rang to check if there had been a mistake and was informed that the new quote included a 20% discount!?!? The person I spoke to didn't seem to understand that if I am paying over 100% more there is no discount to me!!!!

I have previously only used pet plan but the annual premiums do go up quite a bit. I was interested to note the advice re potential for the supermarkets to change underwriters and therefore the conditions, i hadn't considered this.

I am going to change my two cats to another provider, axa have given good quotes but i was interested to note that ASDA also offer life time cover and good premiums and cover death up until 11 years of age - no other insurers do this

wannabepennypincher

Hi, thinking about moving from petplan to AXA. We orginally went with petplan as our vet only takes direct payments from petplan but the monthly payment for our 4 cats has gone up to £40 a month. AXA we would be £26 a month so it makes sense to switch.

However one of the boys had a mild bout of cystitis late last year and I wondered if AXA would then say if he has cystits again it won't be covered. I know they don't cover recurring conditions like diabetes but wondered if they class cystitis as recurring condition.

cathodetube

I am quite sure they would. Cystitis is an illness, not an accident. I clarified questions like this with them when I switched. You can always call the number on their website and ask them.

emlou2009

Does anyone if there are there any "for life" policies which discount for two pets being insured?

Bromley86

Certainly Halifax offer something like 5%.

But when you get your test quotes, the form will ask you if you have insured or will be insuring any other pets with them. You'll likely save more by doing 6 test quotes than you will from the multi-pet discount.

And don't fall for any first year offers, like 12 months for the price of 10. Because you may be stuck with the insurance (i.e. if you claim), it's usually better to find the best policy for you rather than chasing first year discounts as one might with home insurance etc.

cathodetube

M&S offered me a 5% discount but their monthly premiums ended up costing too much so I switched.